Rodrigo Prieto, the esteemed cinematographer who has worked on films such as Martin Scorcese’s Silence and Ang Lee’s Brokeback Mountain, is set to make his directorial debut with revenge thriller Bastard. La La Land’s Jordan Horowitz is set to produce via his Original Headquarters banner while Scorsese and Emma Tillinger Koskoff are exec producing.

Topic, First Look Media’s entertainment studio, is financing and the company’s Adam Pincus and Annie Marter are both overseeing production of the pic, which is slated to begin in the first quarter of 2018.

Based on an original script penned by Bill Gullo, Bastard is a taut revenge thriller with a riveting antagonist at its core, set against a looming flood that will ravage the small town of Bird’s Point, Missouri.

“It’s an honor to get to get to make this picture alongside my terrific partners at Topic and First Look Media,” said Horowitz. “Rodrigo’s work as a cinematographer has consistently floored me, and putting him behind the camera to direct Bill’s absorbing script has all the ingredients for truly thrilling cinema.”

A Mexico-City native, Prieto started his career shooting television commercials at the age of 22 before moving into features in 1992. He broke out into the film scene with his work on Amores Perros, which kicked off his collaboration with director Alejandro González Iñárritu. Prieto boasts a top-notch list of film credits including Julie Taymor’s Frida; Curtis Hanson’s 8 Mile; Spike Lee’s 25th Hour; Iñárritu’s 21 Grams and Babel; Oliver Stone’s Alexander; Kevin Macdonald’s State of Play; Pedro Almodóvar’s Broken Embraces; Francis Laurence’s Water for Elephants; Cameron Crowe’s We Bought A Zoo; Lee’s Brokeback Mountain; Ben Affleck’s Argo; and a clutch of Scorcese titles.

He’s most recently worked on HBO series Vinyl and Silence, the latter of which saw him earn an Oscar nomination. Prieto directored his first short film Likeness, starring Elle Fanning, which premiered at the 2013 Tribeca Film Festival.

WME Global brokered the deal and will rep the film’s rights for North America.